Country Stars Sign on for First-Ever Heal the Music Day

Oct. 20, 2017, will be a special day in Nashville: That date has been declared Heal the Music Day, in support of the Music Health Alliance.

Heal the Music Day is a day designed to raise funds for the Music Health Alliance and awareness for self-employed Nashville musicians and music industry executives. About 56,000 people in Nashville make their living in the music industry, the MHA reports in a press release, and of that number, 76 percent of them do not have direct access to health benefits. The Music Health Alliance's goal is to make it easier for these people and their families to receive health care; the money raised on Heal the Music Day will help the MHA help their constituents when they face medical troubles.

“They turned something that was incredibly difficult and complicated into something very simple, and I needed that help so much, because it was the last thing that I wanted to have to deal with … and every time I’ve had an issue … they’ve fixed it,” Feek says of the Music Health Alliance, which helped his family during his wife Joey Feek's battle with terminal cancer. “They are like family to me … They stepped in like a family member, and they continue to stay with me, and they have never asked for anything — nothing. I have no idea what their business plan is!”

Per the press release, the Music Health Alliance’s six-person team acts as advocates for those in the music industry during health crises: They “remove obstacles so patients can receive life-saving care,” and their services are free to members of the music industry community and their families. Since 2013, the organization has saved its clients — more than 5,600 people — $16 million in medical bills.

“There is no other city in the world like Nashville, where our namesake and greatest natural resource is music,” says Music Health Alliance Founder Tatum Allsep. “Heal the Music Day is a way to ensure that our city’s music professionals have access to life-saving healthcare ... No one in the music industry should ever have to choose between food and medicine. With the community’s support of Heal the Music Day, together we can make sure that this is a choice that never has to be made.”

More information about Heal the Music Day and the Music Health Alliance can be found on the organization's official website.